No diabetes!

I did my yearly blood sugar and urine test and my doctor says I don't have any symptoms of Diabetes... whew! that one is out of the way. He also recommends that I do this every year so that we can monitor the development. I guess keeping my weight off by running has really changed my body's internal workings and I am very glad that I don't have to worry about this at-the-least for a another year...

Running update before Reykjavik Half Marathon 2009

Reykjavik Marathon 2009 is next week and I plan to run a half marathon with a time goal of 1:45:00. I have posted an update until end of July and my training plan, the running stats in August so far stands at:

Distance (km): 130.05
Time: 10:56:06
Avg. Pace (min/km): 5:03
Avg. Speed (km/hr): 11.9
Calories: 11,416
Avg kms per day: 8.1


Image by skipio in Flickr

How lucky am I?

I ran 8.2 km yesterday with my buddy Villi at 10 pm in Heidmork, around a beautiful lake and the sky was such a beautiful sight, I was thinking I must be blessed and lucky to be able to view this sight. I have been amazed at the colors that get displayed in the sky over Iceland, it is purple, red, pink, orange, green, blue and all hues in between.The picture is from SportTracks, a software that I use to track all my workouts it is free but brilliant. It was written by runners for runners. If you want a log book for your running I would highly recommend this tool.

For those interested to see what I am talking about look at the photo stream of fredschalk in Flickr.

Summary of training 2008 & 2009

Here is a summary of my training in 2008 & 2009:

11 week - Runners World Training Schedule

Here's your individualized training program:

Your current race time is: 0:46:03  for a 10 K Your distance training goal is: Marathon You currently train: 41 - 48 km/week How hard you want to train: Hard Your long-run day: Sunday Your training program Starts: Monday, 7/20/2009 Ends: Sunday, 10/4/2009 Length of your training schedule: 11 weeks

Wk Dat Mon Tues Weds Thurs Fri Sat Sun Total 1 7/20 7/26 Rest/XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:41 Rest/XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest/XT Long Run Dist: 16 km @5:41 42 km 2 7/27 8/2 Rest/XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:41 Rest/XT Speedwork Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 2x1600 in 7:14 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest/XT Long Run Dist: 19 km @5:41 45 km 3 8/3 8/9 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 22 km @5:41 46 km 4 8/10 8/16 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:41 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 10 km, inc Warm; 6 km @ 4:48; Cool Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:41 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 26 km @5:41 50 km 5 8/17 8/23 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 40 km 6 8/24 8/30 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:37 Rest / XT Speedwork Dist: 11 km, inc Warm; 3x1600 in 7:09 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:37 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 29 km @5:37 51 km 7 8/31 9/6 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:37 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 10 km, inc Warm; 6 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:37 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 32 km @5:37 54 km 8 9/7 9/13 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 11 km, inc Warm; 8 km @ 4:48; Cool Easy Run Dist: 10 km @5:37 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 26 km @5:37 57 km 9 9/14 9/20 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 8 km @5:34 Rest / XT Speedwork Dist: 13 km, inc Warm; 4x1600 in 7:05 w/800 jogs; Cool Easy Run Dist: 6 km @5:34 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 32 km @5:34 59 km 10 9/21 9/27 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:34 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:40; Cool Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:34 Rest / XT Long Run Dist: 13 km @5:34 31 km 11 9/28 10/4 Rest / XT Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:41 Rest / XT Tempo Run Dist: 8 km, inc Warm; 5 km @ 4:45; Cool Easy Run Dist: 5 km @5:41 Rest / XT Marathon Race Day 26.2 miles @5:04 Time: 3:34:26 60 km

Legend Example What it Means Easy Run Dist: 3km @8:00 Run a total distance of 3 kilometers at a pace of 8 minutes per kilometer. Speedwork Dist: 8km, inc Warm; 3x800 in 4:00 w/400 jogs; Cool Run a total distance of 8 kilometers. Your run should include: - a warmup of about 1.5km - 3 repeats of 800 meters each; each repeat should take 4 minutes - a 400-meter recovery jog after each repeat - a cooldown of about 1.5 km Note: Warmups and cooldowns are generally 1.5 km each. But on some days, you'll need to make them longer to reach the total distance for your run. Rest /XT Take a rest day, or do moderate cross-training activity. Race Day Dist: 5K @5:00  Time: 20:00 On a race day, run your 5K at a 5-minute per kilometer pace. Your time will be 25:00.

Wonderful weather - a Motivator to run

We have been very lucky with the weather is Iceland so far and that has inspired and motivated me to run more this week although my mileage does not show that :) I have done about 55 kms so far this month. The reason for the slack in the mileage is the fact that I have not done any really long runs that I was doing last month. The longest that I did was 37km, the plan was to do a 40km the following weekend but it never happened as I went on vacation to the summer house and then I decided to do a 18km with a buddy of mine so net net it has not contributed to my mileage.

No worries, I did 15km yesterday and will be doing 10 to 15 km today and that should add to my miles this month.

11.45km run after a break

I wanted to work on a Yasso 800 speed workout on the track but met with some of my friends and ended up running 11.45km in 1:04 hours at an average pace of 5:39/km. It was an ok run given my Heart Rate was around 150 BPM and I was running quite easily the pace. Finished the run with some weight training and some core workout. So net net a good start after the one week break. The goal for this month is 180 km and I plan to do 40km this weekend. Here is the run details: